The great circular debate “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” may now be settled. According to a team of scientists from the Universities of Warwick and Sheffield in England, chickens probably came first. The conclusion was reached after a newly developed computer model for simulating the spontaneous crystallization of calcium carbonate revealed the mechanism by which a protein known as ovocleidin, produced by chickens, stimulates the formation of an eggshell.

The team’s work, groundbreaking for the new insight it offers on the timeless chicken-and-egg riddle, is notable too for its innovative approach to molecular simulation. Scientists already knew that ovocleidin promoted the formation of eggshells. But figuring out how the protein does so required the development of a computer model capable of simulating the role of a native protein in initiating mineral crystallization. The model was based on an algorithm that reconstructed the “free-energy landscape” of calcium carbonate nanoparticles.

In exploring the various binding configurations between ovocleidin and the nanoparticles, the scientists discovered that the former acts as a catalyst, initiating the formation of calcite crystals by attaching to calcium carbonate nanoparticles. Once the crystal nucleus attains a size where it is capable of growing on its own, the protein is released, freed to catalyze the formation of more crystals. Repetition of this process is what creates an eggshell.

The ability to simulate the molecular interactions in mineral crystallization under protein control has potential applications in materials science.